Learning to Listen

How can we listen to God's voice speaking to us? Is it something that just "happens"... or is it something that we can work towards doing better? This sermon examines some of the difficulties that we face in trying to hear God's voice, and suggest a way that we might learn to listen better.

Chicka, chicka… chicka, chicka… chicka, chicka… You’re driving down the road, and you suddenly begin to hear a very strange sound. Chicka, chicka… chicka, chicka… chicka, chicka…"Hmmm," you think. "It’s probably a stick under the car that’s rubbing against the road. I’ll take a look when I get home." Chicka, chicka, thud… chicka, chicka, thud… chicka, chicka, thud… "Oh, dear; there’s another noise. Maybe it’s not a stick, after all. Maybe I should probably take the car in to the shop sometime." Chicka, chicka, thud, eeeee… chicka, chicka, thud, eeeee… chicka, chicka, thud, eeeee… At this point, if you haven’t already pulled over to the side of the road and called AAA, you have undoubtedly decided to take the car in to the shop at your first opportunity so that a trained mechanic can help you figure out what that noise is! You may not know what it is; but the mechanic will know.

We’ve all been in that situation at one time or another. We hear a strange sound and we have no idea what it is. If it isn’t the car, it’s something around the house that’s making a strange noise. I remember when we bought our first refrigerator-freezer that included an ice-maker. The first time the ice-maker kicked in, my daughter heard the unfamiliar sound and was terrified that the freezer was getting ready to blow up! Most of the time, we tune out the sounds that are around us – the clock ticking, the drier running, the dishwasher cycling. But when a strange sound intrudes, we want to know what it is. And sometimes, we need some help figuring that out.

The boy Samuel is a great example (I Samuel 3:1-10). In his case, he didn’t hear an ice-maker; he heard the voice of God. And he didn’t recognize God’s voice. In fact, he thought that it was his friend and mentor, the old priest Eli. Three times, Samuel ran to Eli’s bedroom in the middle of the night, thinking that Eli was calling him. Twice, Eli opened a sleepy eye and told the boy to go back to bed. The third time, though, Eli figured out what was going on: it was God calling to Samuel! How long would Samuel have ignored the voice of God without the help of Eli? Who knows! Luckily, Eli was right there to help Samuel learn how to listen.

Do we know when God is calling to us? It’s harder to hear God these days, because God doesn’t usually shout out our names in the middle of the night. (And we tend to wonder about people who say that they heard God that way.) No, God is usually much more subtle than that. Many people hear God’s voice as a whisper that breaks into their thoughts. “Hmmm… where did that come from?” they wonder; and they take a closer look at it. Sometimes, they hear God’s voice in something that someone else says, maybe just a casual comment; and it rings so true that they pay attention to it! Or maybe simply it’s a growing conviction that a certain path is the right one. There are all kinds of ways that God speaks to us these days, right here, right now. That is so important to our own denomination that it’s one of our slogans: “God is still speaking!” And if we don’t recognize God’s voice when God is speaking to us, we risk ignoring the most important voice in our lives as Christians!

But that brings up another problem. How in the world do we recognize God’s voice amid all the other voices in the world that are clamoring for our attention? There are lots of those voices, all yelling to be heard: Madison Avenue… the entertainment industry… the sports industry… even our own family and friends. Now, those can be very good voices, indeed. But they can drown out the voice of God who is trying to speak to us in God’s own subtle way. We not only need help recognizing God’s voice when it calls to us; we need help distinguishing it from all the other voices that fill our lives! Recently, I was sitting on our deck at home in the early evening with my husband Fred. I was listening to the cicadas buzzing in the nearby trees, and to the birds chirping as they visited our array of bird feeders. Suddenly, Fred laughed and said, “Those hummingbirds are really going at it!” Hummingbirds? I didn’t see any hummingbirds at our feeder; and I certainly didn’t hear any humming. “They’re in the pine tree,” he said. “Just listen!” Sure enough, there was a faint but unmistakable hissing and rustling in the tree. When I looked over the deck railing, I saw them: a couple of hummingbirds quarreling, darting back and forth, mad as a couple of wet hens. I know what that sounds like now; but without Fred’s help, I would have missed the whole thing. It makes me wonder: how often have we missed God’s voice, just as I had missed the sound of the hummingbirds?

So, how can we listen for God’s voice calling “Pauline! Ed! Lindsay!”? It begins very simply: we set apart time to listen. Fifteen minutes a day is a good start. You might begin by giving thanks for all the good gifts that God has given you. Then ask God to help you to discern where God has been in your life recently. Review your day, and ask God: “Where were you in my day? What were you trying to tell me?” Ask for the ability to hear God’s voice in the days ahead, and for the ability to discern God’s presence in your life even more fully than you do now. Then spend a few minutes listening. Empty your mind of both fears and hopes. Let go of your schedule and ignore all the things on your to-do list and just listen in the silence. You never know what God might say to you when you get rid of all the other voices that echo in your life from morning till night!

If you’re thinking that you should take notes on what I’m saying, don’t worry. All this will be in the newsletter that is coming out this week, and in much more detail. All you introverts out there, this will be easier for you than for you extroverts. So if you want to find a partner to help you, go right ahead. Discuss it with a trusted friend or family member. There are as many ways to listen for God as there are people on earth; and God will be only too happy to help you find your own path to listening to what God has to say to you. It really doesn’t matter how you do it or when you do it; what matters is that you do it. Our goal is to be able to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” I’m quite sure that God is ready to speak to every single one of us. The question is: “Are we ready to listen?”

Out of Chaos

Where is God when the world seems to spinning out of control? We know the answer -- right there with us -- but it's hard to believe sometimes. This sermon takes a look at why I know God is in the midst of chaos with us, planning something new that we could never imagine!

Where can we find God? If we are really in need of the Divine Presence, where should be look? These days, we know the answer to that question: God is everywhere; and we are in God’s presence no matter where we go or what we do. But that’s not what the ancient Israelites thought. They believed that God lived in the Temple in Jerusalem, in the local synagogue, and sometimes even in the homes of people who faithfully followed the Torah. But was God everywhere? Of course not! There were some places where God simply couldn’t be found; places that were so full of chaos that God’s presence couldn’t stay there. The sea was one of those places. After all, the sea is chaotic, rolling and cresting and breaking. As late as the Middle Ages, people believed that dragons lived there. The sea is no place for God! They couldn’t find God where there were demons, either. The presence of demons was always evidence of the absence of God. It was the reason that people who were thought to be possessed were shunned, if not driven out of town! And God certainly had no place in a graveyard. Death is the absolute opposite of the God who gives life; so wherever death intrudes, God leaves. Death and God were like matter and antimatter – they just couldn’t be found together!

So, that’s why this story in Luke – really two stories that Luke tells us back to back – is so astounding (Luke 8:22-35)! In these two stories, God is found not in the Temple, not in a synagogue, not even in a good Jewish home, but in places full of chaos. Luke has combined the three places that are the most chaotic – the sea, the graveyard, and in the presence of demons – and shows God’s power in all three of them! First, Jesus calmed the raging sea that so terrified the disciples. When a storm at sea threatened their lives, Jesus spoke a few words, and the sea calmed down like a toddler whose tantrum is soothed with a lollipop. Then, Jesus ventured into a graveyard and met a man who was possessed by a legion of demons. Legions were divisions of the Roman army, each one consisting of up to 6,000 soldiers. If that poor man were possessed by 6,000 demons, no wonder that he lived among the tombs! He was so filled with chaos that he lived in a place of chaos! And once again, Jesus showed God’s power. He commanded those demons to get out and stay out; and by the time the townspeople came to see what was going on, that man was as sane as we are! The sea… a graveyard… the presence of demons. God’s presence invaded all of those chaotic places in the person of Jesus Christ and showed everyone that divine power isn’t limited to just a few places, even though no one ever thought that God would ever go into places of chaos.

There’s a lot of chaos swirling around us right now. Some people are dealing with chaos in your personal lives. Some are caregivers for loved ones whose illnesses make them more and more dependent. Some are dealing with chaotic personal relationships; while others are wrestling with a difficult decision and simply cannot find an answer! Our world is certainly chaotic. I dare you to find anyone who thinks that the world is doing great right now! People murder one another at the drop of a hat; drug overdoses are a daily occurrence; and whole species of animals are facing extinction. Sometimes it seems like society is collapsing around our ears. Even our own congregation isn’t as stable as we might think it is. We’re appear to be doing just fine (and in many ways, we are), but underneath the surface, a lot of anxiety is bubbling around. Our numbers are declining, our income isn’t steady, and we face some difficult decisions as to how we should move into the future. Some people might even think that God has forgotten us, leaving us to face the unknown chaos of the future.

Well, I’m here to tell you that God has not abandoned us! God is still present in the lives of those who are dealing with personal chaos; God is still present in our chaotic world; and God is still present in this congregation! God doesn’t run away from chaos! Instead, God wades right into the middle of it, like a first responder who runs towards gunfire while the rest of us are scurrying away. We’re all afraid of chaos because we can’t control it. All we can see is the anxiety, the confusion, and the helplessness that chaos causes. But God sees something else in chaos. God sees possibilities! What we see as a confusing, overwhelming muddle of events, God sees as a multitude of paths to new possibilities! In fact, God does God’s best work in the middle of chaos, when the old has completely passed away and what is to be has not yet appeared. That’s when God says, “Great! Let’s do something new!”

It’s worth remembering what God said through the prophet Isaiah so many years ago (43:1-3, 18-19): “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Forget the former things; don’t dwell on the past. Look, I am doing a new thing! It is springing up even now; don’t you see it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” A way in the wilderness: that’s what God promises to do for us, no matter how chaotic the situation may be to our eyes!

Now, I know that’s hard to believe sometimes. We can’t often see God in the middle of mass shootings and political turmoil. But remember, we are people of the resurrection. Every Sunday morning, we proclaim Christ risen; and it that’s not making a way out of chaos, I don’t know what is! Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. He had been sealed into a tomb. It was the end. Jesus was gone. His followers were in the middle of chaos. And yet, that was the moment that God waded right into the middle of that chaos and said, “I am doing something new!” and up from the grave Christ arose! A God who can raise Jesus from the dead can do anything, even in the midst of the chaos of our world!

Don’t be discouraged. Don’t be afraid, no matter what kind of chaos swirls around you. Don’t be afraid of the chaos in your personal life. Don’t be afraid of the chaos that rumbles under the surface in this congregation. Don’t even be afraid of the chaos that threatens to engulf our whole world! God is working in the midst of it, seeing new possibilities and moving us into a future that is full of hope.

Follow Me

Following Jesus is part of being a Christian. But what exactly can we expect when we do that? Can we expect to be comfortable while we never leave old familiar places? Can we expect to go to church on Sunday with people who are just like we are while staying in our comfort zones. If the experience of Jesus' disciples is any indication, the answer to both those questions is a resounding "NO!" This sermon explains why.

“Follow me, and I’ll help you catch people.” It’s a deceptively simple invitation that Jesus offered to some fishermen (Matthew 4:18-22). There are no details on how they will catch those people, no information as to travel plans, and no hint of who else has been invited to follow, too. Jesus simply invited his first disciples to “Follow me.” Don’t you wonder sometimes why Peter, Andrew, James, and John left everything so quickly and followed along? You would think that they would want to discuss this life-changing invitation for a while before responding; but if the gospels are any indication, they didn’t even think twice about it.

Perhaps the reason is that Jesus’ call was one that invited them to become more than they were already. Theologian Rob Bell tells us that traveling rabbis were actually a common sight in first-century Israel. As they traveled, they would invite people along the way to become their students. But they usually didn’t ask fishermen! They usually invited bright young men who were studying in the synagogue to join their group of disciples. For Jesus to invite fishermen to follow him was very unusual, to say the least! It would be as though Steve Jobs, that computer genius, had invited a janitor to come and study his methods! No wonder the fishermen followed right away! They were the least likely people to be invited to join a rabbis group of students; and they were honored to be asked.

Those fishermen thought that they knew what they would be doing in the days ahead. As they traveled around Galilee, they would sit at the feet of Jesus in the evening and discuss the scriptures with him. They wouldn’t stray too far from home – traveling rabbis usually stayed in a fairly small area – and the people they spoke to would be pretty much like they were: good Jewish men who simply wanted a deeper understanding of the scriptures. But that’s not how it turned out. As they followed Jesus, he led them into all kinds of unexpected places! They traveled through Samaria, that land of heretics where no good Jew would go, and Jesus talked with not a good Jewish man, but a Samaritan woman! They traveled into gentile territory, into the region of Tyre and Sidon where Jesus met a gentile woman; and across the Sea of Galilee where they encountered a madman who lived in a graveyard. And finally, they traveled to Jerusalem, where Jesus challenged them to follow him all the way to a cross. All of it was strange country – places where the disciples had never been, and some places where they never wanted to go! But as they followed Jesus, they found that he took them outside their comfort zones again and again.

We’re outside our own comfort zone now, aren’t we? Right now, we’re just like the disciples, in a strange place where we don’t want to be. Our sanctuary used to be crammed with people on Sunday mornings. Now, it’s normal for only 30 or so to gather for worship. That’s half the number of people who gathered to worship when I first came to this congregation as your pastor 10 years ago. The older people that we have relied on to lead church activities aren’t here anymore. They aren’t able to gather with us for worship, or they have passed on into glory. And we’re not sure where we’re headed. Do we build a multipurpose facility in our recreation park; or do we sell that land? What should we do with our financial investments? And what in the world will we do if our numbers continue to decline? We’ve never been here before, and we don’t like it very much!

What’s even worse is that we have no idea how to proceed. We don’t have a GPS telling us to “turn left in one quarter of a mile.” We don’t have a road map so that we can pinpoint where we are. We are like those folks who are in the middle of a late-fall corn maze. We can’t see over the corn; we don’t have a map to show us where we are; and we don’t know exactly how to get out. On some days, we’re afraid that we might be stuck in here forever! And that’s what Jesus’ disciples probably thought, too, when he led them into some God-forsaken place yet again.

But here’s the good news. Jesus never abandoned his disciples. He led them into places that they would rather not go; but he always led them out again. All those uncomfortable places were temporary. They went through Samaria; and they visited the gentile regions on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. Even when they followed Jesus to the cross and they thought it was the end, Jesus showed them the power of the resurrection! Jesus never leaves us in uncomfortable places – unless, of course, we decide to abandon Jesus and stay there by ourselves!

Jesus hasn’t abandoned us, either. He will lead us out of this uncomfortable place where we find ourselves step by step, day by day, decision by decision. It may be a long road, and one that we would rather not travel; and we have to trust him as he guides us. That’s the question that I have for you right now. Do you trust Jesus to guide us? After all, we don’t know the way out; but Jesus does. And he is calling us right now to “Follow me.” “Follow me” out of confusion into clarity. “Follow me” out of darkness into light. “Follow me” out of loneliness into love. Because that’s our goal, you know. We’re following Jesus towards the Kingdom of God, where the fullness of love will surround us and everyone will proclaim that Jesus is Lord. I certainly want to go there! How about you?